and five hundred years, save the righteous, and they have always been the few of mankind, have served but to increase the almost infinite number of his subjects or victims. And even for these eighteen hundred years, since Christ died to save the world, and his gospel has been preached, it is but the few who truly believe and repent. All others must share the same fate, and be alike the trophies of (according to popular theology) the infernal, but greatest conqueror of the universe. Now this mighty (if not almighty) devil laid the foundation of all this infernal glory (as the popular creeds teach) when he and the serpent went to Paradise in company, the devil to suggest, and the serpent to speak lying words to Eve, to tempt her to eat the forbidden fruit. That popular version of the matter leaves us to wonder why the serpent was punished and the devil suffered to escape. The so-called Orthodoxy has, ever since the second century, been very bold and earnest in support of a genuine faith in the existence and in the attributes (such as above named) of this mysteriously supreme devil, and in legions of other inferior devils also. And it is popularly held (uncharitably as we think) that without that faith, we cannot be true believers in Christ. To the best of our understanding and belief, the devil of the Bible is simply an adversary, and may be many or few. But we do not believe that any adversary of God or man can defeat the divine purpose and counsel of God or is in any case beyond God's control. We do not believe he occupies a literal hell, as much larger

than heaven as the sinners are more numerous than the saints. And yet we trust that we do believe what Philip required the Eunuch to believe, viz.: That Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We do not however believe that the strong faith of popular orthodoxy in one or in many devils přecludes a true faith in Christ, and a consequent holy and righteous life.

CHAPTER XII.

WE have sought both in the books of revelation and of nature, and have found, as we verily believe, "The Pearl of Great Price," viz.: The joint heirship of the whole humanity with Jesus Christ, of God, and of the universe, and we have shown that all who have access to those books, especially the former, may find the same "Pearl." The practical application therefore of that greatest of all truths is, that the status of all finders of that Pearl is as follows, viz.: The poor and the rich alike may claim that God is their Father, and inasmuch as they were together with Christ God-born, before the world began, God loves them as he loves Christ. And the poor are thereby assured that God cannot love them less than he loves the rich. And that God's providential allotments both to the rich and poor will eventuate alike for the positive good of both. And let the rich remember that the blessings of the poor, and their thanks for benefits and kindness received, are worth more to them than all earthly riches. And let both rich and poor remember that the highest possible glory consists in their oneness with Christ, and thereby their positive filial

relation to God, and for that cause they are both alike admitted to daily communion with God and with Christ, and in Christ's name to enjoy the witnessing of God's spirit with their spirits, that he loves them as dear children. Let all heaven and all

the earth remember that the destiny of Christ and the whole humanity is one. It is seen also that that hope is the Pearl, and is the "earnest" of the heavenly "inheritance," and the possessor of it may rejoice and joy even in "tribulation, which worketh patience;" that is, a patient endurance of all the suffering providentially allotted to them in this life. For, as we have shown, the whole humanity, as members of Christ's body, must be like their head, " made perfect through suffering," for which cause Jesus taught his disciples, nay, promised them "that in the world they should have tribulation, but that in him they should have peace." And all who have the "Pearl," or the earnest of salvation and of glorification, are thereby armed with patience and with resignation to all their sufferings, knowing that they terminate in the peace that they are to enjoy in Christ. But that portion of the humanity who have not found that "Pearl," have not fully enjoyed that "earnest of the heavenly inheritance,' and do not therefore joy in tribulation. Yet they too under the divine economy are, as we have before shown, to be made perfect through suffering, whether those sufferings are for sin or otherwise. For we have also shown that all pain and suffering are temporary evils, but positive final good. So that all the members of Christ's body, the whole

THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE.

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humanity, suffer alike with him all the evil or pain which the divine economy foreordained and appointed for them, by which economy both the head and the members are "perfected and glorified together," and so saith an Apostle: "If we suffer with him we shall reign with him."

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